By now, you should have received a note home about Health and Wellness Day this Friday, May 20. The Phys Ed department and the Nurse’s Office put together a fun day of activities for your kids to participate in!

Our Community Walk takes place after the 9:30 AM Opening Ceremony. Parents, family members and other community members are welcome to join in! Please gather outside the front of the school so as not to interrupt the office staff as well as the rest of the building. You can join in with your student as they come out of the building. Parents – we’d love to see you in your NSES Spirit Wear, or at least in the school colors of purple and white. The looks on your child’s face when they see you (or a grandparent, or a friend) outside waiting for them is priceless, and they are just thrilled when you can do a school activity with them. The walk is short enough for short legs, so wear your sneakers and join in!

Some of the activities include “Otto the Auto”, sponsored by AAA Hudson Valley, is a lively, animated traffic safety robot designed to help children learn, remember, and practice important traffic safety habits. Otto will teach children about seat belt use, crossing the street safely, playing away from traffic, “stranger danger” and the importance of wearing a helmet when riding a bike. Rachel Robinson, Registered Dietitian from ShopRite, will be talking to some of the kids about nutrition and healthy eating. Our local, homegrown grocery store, Honest Weight Food Co-op, will also be presenting about nutrition. Sue Adler, our Albany City School Board Vice-President, will be our Honest Weight presenter!

Mr. O’Brey and Ms. Baker will be running all sorts of activities, from soccer to basketball, football to baseball and more! Our own Albany High Falcon Coaches and Student Athletes, will be coming over to help out! It’s a great opportunity for our kids to see the Student Athletes that they could become! Grades will be wearing a team color (PreK/K blue or purple, Gr 1/2 yellow, Gr 3 white, Gr 4 green & Gr 5 black) and learning about team spirit! Heart rates will be pumping and we’ll learn how exercise can be fun!

Don’t forget to wear your appropriate grade color on Friday! It’s supposed to be a completely sunny day with a high of 74, so make sure that you use plenty of sunscreen, as your children will be outside the majority of the day. The PTA will be providing some bottled water, and of course we have water fountains, but if you wish to send your child with a (labeled) water bottle, it would be greatly appreciated, by both them and us!

We can always use more volunteers! As you probably know from your own experiences, the kids are VERY excited during these activities, and extra adult supervision helps to keep our activities fun and safe. The link at the top of the page lists the slots available as well as the times that you would be needed. Please make an effort to help if you can.